GMB wracks up over 16,000 Ofcom complaints, but ITV refuse to give Balls the boot

More than 16,000 people have now made complaints to broadcast watchdog Ofcom. It was over one infamous Good Morning Britain (GMB) episode from August. Specifically, this was the show where GMB presenter Ed Balls interviewed whipless Labour Party MP Zarah Sultana over the Islamophobia that fueled the far-right fascist race riots. It just so happened too, that the former Labour right politician was interviewing home secretary Yvette Cooper – his own wife – that very same programme.

GMB complaints to Ofcom

In a disgraceful episode on the morning of 5 August, Ed Balls and co-presenter Kate Garraway grilled Sultana over the racist pogroms neo-Nazi groups carried out across the country.

What ensued was a rancid display of racism and Islamophobia – from none other than the hosts themselves. As the Canary’s Steve Topple described, Sultana was:

not only shut down by the four white people on the panel, but effectively infantilised and talked over.

In what was at best deeply uncomfortable viewing, and at worst a politically-motivated assault, Sultana was first subject to several minutes of firstly lies.

Topple detailed how Balls “dropped any sense of impartiality”. Because while co-host Garraway harshly interrogated Sultana’s use of the term “Islamophobic”, the two presenters did not keep this up with another, notable interviewee to the show that morning. Notably, Topple laid bare this racist journalistic pantomine in action:

Just to hammer home the point that racist GMB is more interested in clicks and viewer figures than journalism – Ed Balls was then allowed to interview his wife, who for the first time in nearly a week of race rioting used the term Islamophobic

Naturally, many on X at the time pointed out Balls’ particular conflict of interest too. So, it was off to Ofcom with thousands of complaints over the disgraceful GMB episode. Many particularly railed against home sec hubby Balls interviewing his own wife live on air – probably right after Cooper had texted him that it was taxpayer-subsidised canteen leftovers for dinner tonight…

ITV gets behind GMB’s Ed Balls-up

Initially, ITV issued this mealy-mouthed response to the influx of GMB Ofcom complaints against the revolving door politician-come-poor excuse for a journalist:

Following a weekend of rioting and national unrest, GMB featured a range of interviews and discussion around this national emergency on today’s programme which included James Cleverly, shadow home secretary, and Yvette Cooper, home secretary. We are satisfied that these interviews were balanced, fair and duly impartial.

Of course, this isn’t how 16,812 people who went out of their way to make a complaint to Ofcom rightly saw it:

The total number of complaints for Good Morning Britain on 5 August, in which Ed Balls interviewed Home Secretary Yvette Cooper who is his wife and which also featured a controversial interview with MP Zarah Sultana, has now reached 16,812 according to Ofcom.

— Press Gazette (@pressgazette) September 9, 2024

Of course, ITV was massively missing the point.

People weren’t complaining that the GMB had failed to platform a range of voices from across the political spectrum. Instead, it was the contempt, racism, and bias with which its presenters treated a left-wing Muslim MP. On top of this, Ed Balls’ brazenly obvious conflict of interest interviewing his wife on the same programme stood in stark contrast.

However, now it has emerged that complaints have doubled has the broadcaster budged even a smidge? Nope. So far, it has been tumbleweed.

Spineless regulator Ofcom

But if you thought Ofcom would swoop in to save the day, brace for further disappointment. The spineless regulator hasn’t taken any firm action against ITV over this yet either. Towards the end of August, an Ofcom spokesperson issued the statement that:

We are assessing the complaints against our broadcasting rules but are yet to decide whether or not to investigate.

That is, after over 16,000 complaints, it still hadn’t decided whether it was even going to bother investigating. Of course, this is the same Ofcom that let the right-wing propaganda machine masquerading as a news channel GB News off the hook for breaching impartiality rules. Though, not that it was the first or last time it has done this. In this instance, it was over putting two Tory ministers in the host hotseat. They were interviewing – you guessed it – another Tory MP.

It seems neither ITV nor Ofcom will give Ed Balls the boot for now. However, the next time the washed up politician-turned-torrid-TV presenter bares his racist, chauvinistic ass live on air, he might just set a new record. 16,000 complaints could very well look quite rosy with hindsight.

Feature image via the Canary